1963 Dart 170 2 Door Post Resto
So, had a little hiatus away from the car, with getting everything ready for Christmas and all, along with lots of hours at work. Finally got some time to get back at the car.
Decided to go a little different route than originally planned...the proper route you might say. I was going to sand one side, do all the body work, then seal that side, then move onto the next side, and so on. After more research I have decided the best route is to sand the entire car, pull the dents to the best of my ability (and patience :) ), then put the entire car in epoxy primer, then do the body work, then hi-build, then seal. I was originally taught to do body work on well scuffed bare metal. The more I read and agree it is best to epoxy the car to seal moisture away from the metal before applying the skim coat of filler, thus that is how I have decided to proceed. I know there is still debate on this but this is how I am going)
got the drivers rear quarter, rocker and lower door sanded now, and did some work with the stud gun dent puller on the drivers door. When I got the car, as I have mentioned before it appears a previous owner drove by braille, thus a long approximately 1/8" deep dent in the drivers door...crease and all. After a couple passes with the puller and hits with the shrinking disc to bring down the high spots I got it to where I am happy with it. I could possibly get it a little better but it will only take the thinnest coat of filler now to fill the small dents in between where I pulled the panel. The rest of the body line of the panel is near perfect, which is better than I expected or hoped for. Only a few more small dents to pull and the car will be ready for body once its sanded and primed, only needing the thinnest coat of filler to get it nice and straight. The rear roof line is where the most work will be needed, but's already a good ways along already. Can't wait to see this thing in epoxy. If I realized earlier I would have just sent the entire car off to be media blasted in the first place, but you know how original plans always snowball...lol. This was originally supposed to be get it drivable and enjoy it while working on my other projects and do this one later....well too late for that now.
Shown is the dent before, then dent with the etching primer wet to see if the panel shape was correct (shows the little remaining dents) and after
Any way, sorry for the long winded post. Hopefully more pics to come soon with less and less blue and a lot more grey.
So, had a little hiatus away from the car, with getting everything ready for Christmas and all, along with lots of hours at work. Finally got some time to get back at the car.
Decided to go a little different route than originally planned...the proper route you might say. I was going to sand one side, do all the body work, then seal that side, then move onto the next side, and so on. After more research I have decided the best route is to sand the entire car, pull the dents to the best of my ability (and patience :) ), then put the entire car in epoxy primer, then do the body work, then hi-build, then seal. I was originally taught to do body work on well scuffed bare metal. The more I read and agree it is best to epoxy the car to seal moisture away from the metal before applying the skim coat of filler, thus that is how I have decided to proceed. I know there is still debate on this but this is how I am going)
got the drivers rear quarter, rocker and lower door sanded now, and did some work with the stud gun dent puller on the drivers door. When I got the car, as I have mentioned before it appears a previous owner drove by braille, thus a long approximately 1/8" deep dent in the drivers door...crease and all. After a couple passes with the puller and hits with the shrinking disc to bring down the high spots I got it to where I am happy with it. I could possibly get it a little better but it will only take the thinnest coat of filler now to fill the small dents in between where I pulled the panel. The rest of the body line of the panel is near perfect, which is better than I expected or hoped for. Only a few more small dents to pull and the car will be ready for body once its sanded and primed, only needing the thinnest coat of filler to get it nice and straight. The rear roof line is where the most work will be needed, but's already a good ways along already. Can't wait to see this thing in epoxy. If I realized earlier I would have just sent the entire car off to be media blasted in the first place, but you know how original plans always snowball...lol. This was originally supposed to be get it drivable and enjoy it while working on my other projects and do this one later....well too late for that now.
Shown is the dent before, then dent with the etching primer wet to see if the panel shape was correct (shows the little remaining dents) and after
Any way, sorry for the long winded post. Hopefully more pics to come soon with less and less blue and a lot more grey.